The holiday shopping season is witnessing a significant transformation with the introduction of artificial intelligence (AI) tools that enhance the consumer experience. Most significantly, Google has introduced a new AI agent that can call local merchants to check on product availability. Such a development would lead to unprecedented consumer shopping behavior this holiday season. Industry leaders, including OpenAI and Walmart are working together to do just that.
Google’s AI agent can be instructed to search for specific items, such as a casual sweater suitable for various outfits in New York’s winter climate. The AI draws from a massive database of over 50 billion product listings. This provides users with convenient, real-time information on what’s in stock at their nearby retailers. This personalized shopping experience aims to simplify the process and enable consumers to make informed decisions quickly.
On top of Google’s big news, OpenAI’s ChatGPT made its own entry into the world of holiday shopping. The innovative platform has just joined forces with Walmart! Now, ChatGPT users can access an instant checkout feature for nearly everything on Walmart’s website, excluding perishable groceries. Currently, this feature supports the purchase of one item at a time, marking a step towards integrating conversational AI into everyday shopping.
According to Salesforce, AI will influence about $73 billion in worldwide holiday sales. That’s a whopping 22% of the total sales forecasted so far! This figure is an increase of $80 billion from the previously $60 billion estimated last year. And as shoppers rightfully expect to benefit from these AI-driven solutions, the agility to act competitively under pricing pressures becomes table stakes for retailers.
Lilian Rincon, vice president of product for consumer shopping at Google, remarked on the broader implications of these technological advancements.
“This is an expansionary moment, I think, for all of technology and for commerce.” – Lilian Rincon
The launch of AI shopping assistants goes far beyond Google and OpenAI. In September last year, Amazon released its own shopping assistant, called Rufus. This move only increased the momentum of the AI wave sweeping through retail. Analysts expect that these tools will continue to innovate as more retailers adopt them. This evolution will, with time, ultimately provide the best shopping experience for consumers.
Brad Jashinsky, a retail industry expert, highlighted the growth potential in this industry.
“The more retailers that launch these tools, the better they get, and the more that consumers get comfortable and start to seek them out.” – Brad Jashinsky
Tools that track prices across the web have existed for years. Tools such as CamelCamelCamel give consumers the power to track prices on Amazon. Back to PayPal—its Honey browser extension is designed to hunt for deals on the order of 4,000+ online retailers. The wave of advancements in AI-driven platforms brings a new level of sophistication to these tools.
He noted that as we approach more widespread adoption of emerging technologies, we may have an unprecedented ability to drive consumer awareness around price alerts.
“A lot of consumers that weren’t even looking for price alerts are going to discover price alerts for the first time.” – Jason Goldberg
Retailers are adapting to these changes by enhancing their pricing strategies and ensuring they remain competitive amid evolving consumer expectations. As AI continues to play a pivotal role in shaping shopping habits, businesses must prioritize innovation and responsiveness to market trends.
OpenAI and Walmart’s partnership represents a larger trend toward bringing conversational AI into everyday retail operations. As these technologies continue to evolve, they should ultimately make the transaction more seamless and increase customer satisfaction.
